Another game outside the division meant another embarrassment
for the 49ers. The San Diego Chargers walloped them, 34-7, in the
latest demonstration that the 49ers are no match for the NFL’s
upper tier.
SAN DIEGO
Another game outside the division meant another embarrassment for the 49ers. The San Diego Chargers walloped them, 34-7, in the latest demonstration that the 49ers are no match for the NFL’s upper tier.
This time, quarterback Philip Rivers threw three touchdown passes to Vincent Jackson as the Chargers rolled early and often. Add that to a 49ers scrap heap that includes blowout losses against Tampa Bay and Green Bay. During the course of the 49ers’ past three games outside the NFC West, they have been outscored 89-23.
“We have to win games outside our division,” linebacker Patrick Willis said. “Until we do that, it’s going to be tough every year.”
It was tough again Thursday, as the 49ers managed only one meaningless touchdown — a 3-yard run by Brian Westbrook — with the game long out of reach.
Only in the downy-soft NFC West can the 49ers (5-9) still talk about making the playoffs. They are 1 1/2 games back with games remaining against St. Louis (away) and Arizona (home). The Rams and Seahawks are tied for the division lead at 6-7.
“The most frustrating thing is to know we had an opportunity to be sitting in the driver’s seat after tonight and we (poured) it down the drain,” linebacker Takeo Spikes said.
From the start, it was clear that the 49ers weren’t facing some NFC West cupcake. Rivers hit Jackson for a tone-setting 58-yard touchdown pass on the Chargers’ opening possession. Jackson ran a go route against cornerback Nate Clements and simply outjumped him for the ball before slipping away from Clements for the score.
Just over two minutes into the game, the Chargers were ahead 7-0.
What looked like the 49ers’ best chance, meanwhile, was just frustration in disguise. The miserable sequence started early in the second quarter, after Jeff Reed kicked an apparent 38-yard field goal.
The officials flagged Chargers defensive tackle Antonio Garay for hopping onto the back of a teammate while trying to block a kick. The leverage penalty gave the 49ers new life, with a first-and-goal from the 10.
Three plays later, quarterback Alex Smith scrambled for the left pylon and dived in for what looked initially like a touchdown. But the Chargers got the play overturned on a replay challenge. The officials ruled Smith down just short of the goal line.
That gave the 49ers a fourth-and-goal from the 1. They botched it, with Anthony Dixon stuffed behind the line for a loss. Coach Mike Singletary said he thought his offensive line could grind out such a short distance.
But this was not the offensive line’s night. That unit struggled against the Chargers’ top-rated defense. Smith was sacked six times, and the 49ers had only 61 yards rushing.
The offensive line was just one on a long list of breakdowns.
“We have to coach better, and we have to execute better,” Singletary said.
With the frustration of the nullified touchdown still fresh, the 49ers’ night went downhill fast. On the Chargers’ next possession, 49ers defensive end Justin Smith was jawing with San Diego tight end Randy McMichael.
As tempers flared, umpire Garth DeFelice stepped in — only Smith didn’t notice that it was an official. He made contact with DeFelice and earned a 15-yard penalty and an ejection.
Smith said he didn’t mean to make contact with the official, saying, “It was just kind of a natural reaction by me. But rules are rules. . . . It’s the first time I’ve ever had to watch a game from the locker room.”
Referee Clete Blakeman said Smith’s ejection was not, by rule, automatic. The officials ejected Smith because they declared his contact “an intentional act.”
“He shoved him away,” Blakeman told a pool reporter from the San Diego Union-Tribune. “I was there. I saw it. My umpire and I conferred on it, and we both agreed (and) deemed it to qualify as a disqualification.”
Without Justin Smith, and with Spikes and Willis playing with casts on their broken right hands, the 49ers had little chance against the Chargers’ high-powered offense.
Rivers finished 19 of 25 for 273 yards and a 150.5 quarterback rating before being relieved by backup Billy Volek early in the fourth quarter.
49ers quarterback Alex Smith, fresh off a big game against Seattle, was 19 of 29 for 165 yards and an interception. Asked for his review of Smith, Singletary said, “I don’t know. I need to look at the film.”
Smith was harassed all night by a relentless pass rush. His favorite target — tight end Vernon Davis — had only one catch for 4 yards. It came with about six minutes left in a blowout.
The 49ers dropped to 1-6 on the road this season and 5-15 on the road since Singletary took over as head coach.
The 49ers still hold out hope. As Spikes said, “I still believe.”
But time is running out.
“The bottom line is, we didn’t play well tonight,” Singletary said. “It’s as simple as that.”
— Story by Daniel Brown, San Jose Mercury News
